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Tactical Mod Strategies and Tips

11-14-2005, 06:54 AM

Over the past few days, I've prefaced my regular BF2 gaming on TG with sessions of Duke's excellent Tactical Mod on server 2. The vanilla and modded versions contrast interestingly, and I thought I'd share some of the insights about strategic mod play that have been bouncing around the community.

First of all, the best way to enjoy yourself with the Tactical Mod is to determine the number of players you have, and to then orchestrate the game around that. Due the unique nature of the changes that have been made, 16 player maps are best suited to 32 players, and 32 player maps are best suited to 64 players. As a result, you'll need to bring in your own restrictions on the gameplay if you have a limited number of players.
Here are a few suggestions:
1. No armour
2. Pistols and knives only
3. No vehicles
4. Attack certain flags only, other flags are designated as faux UCBs.
5. Use of armour and vehicles restricted within a certain area

Now that the drier, more administrative part of this post is out of the way, let's move to something juicier - Strategy and Tactics

Tactical Mod has caused a paradigm shift in gameplay - the game is no longer as absorbed with the offense and defense of flags, in an arcadey "capture and hold" manner. While this is still important, the vital technique for survival is the capturing of objectives and pieces of terrain.
For example, rather than capturing the City Flag on Gulf Of Oman, a squad would focus on obtaining the rather useful wall just to the south of that CP. This provides it with a base of operations, and a jumping-off point for attacks on the flag. While playing, check your map often, and scout for good defensible positions in your immediate area.

It's all about the flanking, baby!
It is. Seriously. I'm assuming that everyone reading this knows what flanking is, but let me just reaffirm its importance. Flanking is the single-most important military tactic of the last, oh, two millennia. At all times you should be devising ways to flank your opponents, or you should be actually flanking them.

Things to know about flanking:
1. Suppressive fire does.
Use your teammates to get the enemy to keep their heads down. A scared and suppressed will soon be a dead one, provided you take advantage of this useful, albeit temporary, condition. Make your move when appropriate, and ensure that your team coordinates fires for maximum effect.
2. Cover, Concealment and Stealth
Smoke grenades are the way of the future. Use them to shield yourself, and to disguise your movements and position. Hell, use them as decoys, or use them to force an enemy to advance on your position while blind. Plenty of uses, plenty of situations for them to be used in.

If you've ever played hide & seek, done an E&E exercise or hidden in a locker as Solid Snake, you should be able to guess what I'm gonna talk about next.
Cover- When moving to contact, try and keep something between you and the enemy. You do not want to be wandering in the middle of a road, so stick to the walls, fences and trees. Yes, I said trees - any cover is good cover.

Concealment - BF2 has a number of shrubs and bushes strewn across most maps, and you're wearing camo. By picking and choosing your spots, you should be able to avoid detection by the enemy (bar the use of UAV, spotting or CO views). Remember to stay still unless necessary, and wait till your sprint bar fills up before moving.

Stealth - Run silent, run deep. Don't make unnecessary noise through radio calls or discharging of weaponry, and try to stay prone, crouched or stopped completely. Use the natural formations and terrain of the map to disguise yourself, especially behind things like small ridges and rock formations.

4. Good communication is essential to a good victory. Comms allows you to coordinate fires on particular targets, designate targets (through descriptions and 'spotted' radio calls) and avoid fratricide (by describing your heading, and calling "friendlies" or "hold fire"). Through the use of a spotter, you can also use the power of the grenade launcher in indirect fire missions, with targeting instructions being given by a partner watching the hits.

Whenever you feel like playing the Tactical Mod, put out a shout on TS and try and get a group together. If the games on server 1 aren't so great, go and pimp the Tactical Mod. Games can be fun with even 3 or 4 others on, and if you build it they will come.

Wow munch, great post. These are all things that will really help keep you alive and an effective soldier. I've been putting alot of effort into always playing like this recently and as I've got better at it I've seen my kill/death ratio significantly improve. I also find the game much more interesting and enjoyable when I put a huge value on my life and do everything I can to stay alive and healthy during combat.

Comment

Excellent write-up Munch, I cannot give you any more +rep though, I have to spread around...

I agree that If there are only a few players, the Tactical Mod experience can still be a blast by using certain limitations (no armor, etc). even without limiting weapons it works fine by me. Remember no-vehicle games like ghost recon and rainbow 6. As some other fellow gamers here, from time to time, I prefer to play BF2 solely on infantry basis the sake of a concentrated on-the-foot experience ;) of course other times, I love the scope of BF games with all the vehicles.

A reminder to all fellow players. Dont be shy and talk. It is a huge factor in game. I realized that if a squad is silent, experience is significantly less satisfying. And when I say talk I mean tactical-talk not chat or constant swearing. I had to leave a squad couple of days ago because SL was like a .50 cal spitting all kinds of interesting f-words, extending my vocabulary :) very simple examples of squad comm. are;

"I got your six Munch, lets go"
"Watching north, looks clear, waiting for orders"
"Contact, 11 o'clock, take cover and hold fire" in addition to some standard order and report phrases. Just start it and you will see others are going to join you.

The game is now playable at a tactical level. In vanilla version, I dont remember how many times I tried to lead my squad towards a target CP, using stealth, fire discipline, formations and failed almost every time because of the tactic-killer commander assets. Vanilla BF2 pushes you into a madness of run and gun, dont think/just act way of playing.

Just like Duke said, I also enjoy a game more if I survive longer and finish with only a few spawns. It adds a lot to immersion. The reward of a smart and cautious gameplay is a big one.

I have seen some tactically-minded, great players here at TG gave up trying to make and use tactics because of the fast-paced arcade feeling of BF2. Trying tactics and plans usually end up with frustration because you dont even have 10 seconds to explain the plan to your team mates.

BOOM, artillery, BOOM, bomber, BOOM AA-immune Choppers...

Developers of the game openly stated that game was released with arcade settings and they are leaving the tweak work to modders. Thanks to Duke, we didnt have to wait any longer.

I invite all TG gamers to give full support and feedback for the Tactical Mod. I respect different opinions and preferences of course but if we are calling ourselves Tactical Gamers, we should have big problems with BF2 vanilla right now and embrace any effort to make the game a real tactical shooter.

I realize that I didnt discuss tactics in particular because all the things we have discussed so far under Tactics session (Fire Teams, Formations, Rules of Engagement, Maneuvers such as bounding-over-watch, suppressive/flanking moves and many others) can NOW be applied. We talked a lot about these and now is the time to put them into action using Tactical Mod.

Comment

<hijack>
Those first 5 tips are great for low player games, regardless of if they're Tactical Mod games or not. :)

I'm a huge fan of this mod. It really puts a whole new emphasis on teamwork, communication, and having a diverse squad. It also allows for stealthier tactics and surprise attacks.

What I'd like to see one night is TS-style play on a map like Mashtuur or Karkand. No extra lives after you're Killed (while still allowing the critically wounded to be revived). 16 on 16 in that scenario would be an incredible time.

Comment

Sounds pretty cool -- like a more expansive Counter-Strike, using the BF2 engine. I would think the round structure would have to be modified for this style of play. As with Counter-Strike, there could be multiple short rounds per map, with the team winning the most rounds winning the map.

I would think objectives would need to be modified as well. Maybe each team could have only one or two flags to defend. Scenarios could be:

- one team captures the enemy team's flag(s) while holding its own flag(s) within the given round time limit (a victory for the capturing team)
- one team eliminates all of the opposing team's members within the given round time limit (a victory for the eliminating team)
- both teams defend their flags and have players remaining at the end of the given round time limit (a draw)
- both teams swap flags and have players remaining at the end of the given round time limit (a draw)
- some combinations of the above, maybe with weighted scores being assigned to certain flags or conditions (i.e. you get two points for capturing the enemy team's flag(s) while defending your own flag(s), but you only get one point for eliminating all members of the enemy team)

If possible, it would also be cool to make new objectives within the game (kinda like what the new SF expansion sounds like).

- one team has to blow up a bridge while the other team defends it
- one team has to destroy a certain vehicle (maybe an "experimental tank") while the other team defends it
- one team has to protect a VIP while the other team tries to eliminate him/her
- etc.

Comment

Do you really find that suppressive fire works? In other word, are bullets really lethal enough, and the consequences of wounds and death nasty enough, to get people to duck when being shot at? Because, in stock BF2, the usual reaction to getting shot at is to run around a bit to throw off the aim of your attacker, while trying to locate him and return fire. Suppressive fire thus becomes merely an invitation to a firefight.

Comment

very nice additions Strag, this discussion is getting sweeter after every single post :)

It started as Tactical mod strategies and tips but we are now discussing the game-modes for the mod which is a very important subject in my opinion. Why?

It is about the psyhcology of the gamer. No matter how good and exciting it starts , we need a continuous change and variation in what we play. Because after some time, it will all become routine and boring if our options are very limited. It will be a typical case of burnout. We have to try hard to avoid it at all costs :) Just like we are doing it now, we need to think about the ways we can keep this activity always exciting, fun, and interesting.

Tactical Mod provides us the necessary ground rules for a tactical game. It is an excellent base to build upon.

Lets list the suggested game modes under the topic Tactical Mod: Suggestion List. I hope some/all of these can be put into test in future. Of course the biggest step is going to be the technical one. Duke buddy, whenever you think is the right time, just call for help on technical issues as well. We can directly or indirectly (by finding modders) help you to develop what you have started.

- the definition should also include the element of "distraction". therefore even if cannot pin down the enemy due to the lack of taking cover incentive, which is a result of current damage model, it is still a valid tactic if you use a flanking team. In other words, as long as it can draw the attention of enemy to one side, it is working in my book.

Comment

Don't forget buggies and jeeps! One of their best (and typically least utilized) uses IMO. :)

believe me I had them in mind ;) my only concern is the vulnerability of the gunner. therefore I agree that they can be effectively used for suppression but when compared to armor and close air support, they are less effective due to being easier targets

Comment

Do you really find that suppressive fire works? In other word, are bullets really lethal enough, and the consequences of wounds and death nasty enough, to get people to duck when being shot at? Because, in stock BF2, the usual reaction to getting shot at is to run around a bit to throw off the aim of your attacker, while trying to locate him and return fire. Suppressive fire thus becomes merely an invitation to a firefight.

When players have to wait 30-60 seconds to spawn, they will take cover and seek a medic more frequently than in vanilla BF2. The increasing spawn time has been slowing people down.